The May General Meeting of the Memphis Amiga Group will be held Saturday,
May 11 from 1:00 pm until approximately 3:00 pm in the New Auditorium on the
campus of State Technical Institute at Memphis. This month's theme will be
WorkBench 2.0.

The video SIG meeting is scheduled for 7 P.M., Thursday, May 16
at Consolidated Media Systems at 2876 Business Park Drive, off Winchester by
the airport. This month's topic will be 3D software, with a close look at
LightWave 3D. Definite plans for this meeting will be announced at the
general meeting, Saturday, May 11.

Don't forget, if you don't come to the General meeting, you'll miss out on
diskMAGazine, our new newsletter companion disk, available only at the General
Meeting. The first one's free, after that you'll have to trade in an old
diskMAGazine (red disk only) or pay a buck.

Hardware Project

by BRIAN AKEY

A hardware project for the out-of-warranteed and the brave at
soldering.

For everyone who still has 512K, you can, on some of the new Amiga 500s,
add another 512K without using a 501. (You have to open the machine, so this
is for the people who feel comfortable taking a chance on turning a perfectly
good Amiga 500 into a very expensive doorstop and it almost goes without
saying that opening your machine, not to mention delving therein, voids your
warrantee - Editor.)

Open up the machine and get to the motherboard. The first thing is to
check for the version number of the motherboard. It should be version 6 and
the label is on the right side of the machine by the drive. You can also
tell by counting how many ram chips you have. The ram is in the lower left
corner and you should have four ram chips with four empty spots for the extra
four chips. If you have a version 6 then call up I.C. Express, or another ram
chip seller, and get four 256K by 4 DIP chips. They need to be 100ns or
faster (80ns, 70ns). You also need four .22uf capacitors. You also need a
soldering iron, solder sucker, four sockets, and solder.

Install each chip in sockets U23, U22, U21, U20. It's best if you solder
the sockets into the motherboard so you don't overheat the ram chips. You
need to take the machine all the way apart and take the motherboard out and
also take the metal shield off of the motherboard.

Take your solder sucker and suck out all the solder in the four ram chip
positions and the 4 capacitor positions. Insert the chip sockets and then
insert the four capacitors. Solder all the pins, then insert the ram chips
by matching the dimple showing pin one to the other ram chips that are there.
A clue is that pin one is the upper left corner.

Then for 1Meg of chip ram, cut jumper pad JP2 and solder the top and
center pad together. If you want 512K fast and 512K chip leave JP2 alone and
find the jumper pad by the 501 socket. It should be J7A. It is the only
jumper pad right next to the 501 socket. Take and solder the center and top
pin together. You don't need to cut between the lower and the center pad
because the lower pad is not connected to anything. Once you've done this,
you cannot use a 501 card.

Next month we might try adapting different joysticks and mouses to the
Amiga.

From the President's CLI

by Brian Akey

Last month's newsletter turned out to be a memorable one. For May we have
plans to show WorkBench 2.0. Keth Burns will be showing us what we can look
forward to in a few months. We will also have WorkBench hints. WorkBench
hints will be every month and it will help new members with the use of
WorkBench. We will also have a questions section for anyone having questions
about the computer, software, and hardware. We will also have a section on
games.

If we can, we might have a video on the making of Change
Myself, by Todd Rundgren. Todd made a music video with the Amiga and
Toaster, well, he used ten Amiga 2500s with a Toaster in each one. Demos we
are looking at doing in the future include: CanDo 1.5 and AmigaVision,
Colorburst, HAM E, The Toaster, and many others.

MAG Meetings

The Memphis Amiga Group (MAG) holds general meetings the second Saturday
of each month in the New Auditorium on the campus of State Technical Institute
at Memphis (see map at left).

There will be an officers lunch meeting at Gridley's in the
formal dining room begining at 11:00 A.M., Saturday, May 11 (before the
general meeting). For more information call Brian Akey at (901) 278-6354.
Be there or be hungry and ill-informed.

For Gamers SIG information, call Mike Amos at (901) 377-1093.

Hardware Rentals

FutureSound audio digitizer kit - $1 per day
FramesGrabber OR SuperGen - $4 per day
(Hardware rentals are for memebers only)A variety of Amiga specific videotapes are also available
from the club's hardware library.

Disk Sales

MAG library and Fred FISH disks are $2 each.
($5 each for non-members)
Quality blank disks with lables are 65¢ each.
($1 each for non-memebers)For all this and more contact club librarians
Bill Bowers (901) 360-0003 or Shane Russell (901) 795-0622
OR see Bill or Shane at the next MAG general meeting.

New Deadline for Dues

In order to help bring some consistency to our bookkeeping and make it
easier to keep up with memeberships, we are changing the deadline for
membership renewals. From now on, you must renew on or before the second
Saturday of the month your membership expires. If you do this, the renewal
fee is $15 per year. If you wait and renew at a later time, you must pay the
new member fee of $20.

Memphis Amiga Group Officers for 1991

President
Brian Akey
(901) 278-6354

Vice President
Donnie Webb
(901) 363-8025

Secretary
Shelley Franklin
(901) 682-0417

Treasurer
Ken Winfield
(901) 382-3339

Librarians
Bill Bowers
(901) 360-0003
Shane Russell
(901) 795-0622

MAGazine Editor
Charles Williams
(501) 655-8777

MAGazine Printing & Distribution
Terry A. Campbell
(601) 393-4864

FOR SALE

WANTED TO BUY

DeluxePaint III. Call Shawn Wyatt at (901) 424-7804.

MAGazine

MAGazine is published monthly by the Memphis Amiga Group (MAG), a
non-profit organization offering assistance to fellow Amiga owners and those
interested in the Amiga. Membership in MAG is available for a new member fee
of $20 per family, renewable at $15 per year, if renewed before membership
lapses.

Commodore Releases CDTV

The following article came to use from Usenet (I think) by way of
People Link. It is by Chris Hanson. Thanks to all involved.

After our first two days of playing with our CDTV in the store, I have
found a few fascinating conclusions. These I will share with you.

Let's start it out bluntly. This is not a new hardware platform. This IS
an Amiga 500. It's in a new case. it has no build-in DFO:. It has a MIDI
port, and a 660 or so meg CD ROM. But it still thinks like a 1 meg 500.

Clever hack number one: Apparently someone else has done this prior to me,
but I'll reiterate. You can hook up a normal Amiga 1010 drive (or anyone
else's 1010 compatible drive) to the floppy port (yes, it's a normal Amiga 23
pin floppy port) and stick in a WB 1.3 disk, and it'll boot WB 1.3. Some have
noted that you can do a NEWCLI >AUX: in the disk's startup-sequence, and hook
up the serial port to another machine, and have yourself a Shell. Whoop de
whoop. That's no fun.

This machine has full 1.3 ROMS. Apparently they must be modified to add a
few ROM drivers for the weird hardware they added on, but it'll run ANYTHING
that runs on a 1.3 maching with 1 meg. What of the mouse & Keyboard you
ask?

The infrared controller for CDTV is a stroke of genius in design. Not only
does it WORK well (unlike the PCjr's infrared keyboard gimmick), but it is
transparently integrated into the system. The cursor/joystick keypad will
emulate either a joystick or a mouse, toggleable. This emulation is very
solid: It works perfectly with ALL the games I tried, even games that
I know read the hardware directly.

The two buttons, A & B on the controller emulate either the two mouse
buttons, or the single joystick firebutton. The mouse emulation is good
enough to use with Workbench and such (I have...) but not good enough for
real precise work like DPaintIII. Yes, DPIII runs fine, but the mouse
emulation resolution imposes a grid-effect on your painting.

The keys on the controller (1 through ten on the keypad, enter, escape,
and a few others) emulate their Keyboard equivalents. Presumably with
something like Black Belt Systems' "Jakeboard" program, you could emulate the
entire keyboard.

The CD ROM drive is implemented as a real Filesystem and device. It
automounts as a device called CD0:, and supports automatic sensing of a
DiskChange event. I have not yet run Xoper to see what exec-level device it
uses, and if it uses the FFS, or something custom. It does not appear to use
scsidisk.device, as I ran the HDToolBox program from the A590 drive, and it
was unable to locate any SCSI or IDE devices.

The drive does NOT appear to use an ISO9660 filesystem. We presume this as
we put in a CD from our 386 machine's SONY drive, and it just ignored the
disk. The jewel-box that you must put this disk into before putting it is the
CD drive IS identical to the jewel-box used on our SONY PC drive.

The "Welcome to CDTV" disk that comes with the unit appears to be a bit of
a rush job. It is an EXCELLENT production, explaining every Port, plug, light,
button, widget and gizmo on the CDTV. Nowhere is the word Amiga EVER used in
this production, and the word "computer" is only heard once, when mentioning
the addition of a disk drive. Even the optional keyboard is called a
"typewriter-style" keyboard. No computers HERE.

Oh, yes, I said a rush job. I only say this because there is a TON of JUNK
files on the disk. I pulled up DiskMaster (a real joy of a program in this
case, when all I had to control the machine was a mouse!) and explored the
contents of the disk. There are miscellaneous header files, source files,
programmer documentation, and .LZH files littered about the disk, along with
backups of the images used in the final presentation, and MANY "alternate"
images that were apparently rejected, but never removed. I even found a copy
of a text invoice dictating the terms between Commodore and the artist hired
to do the art for the disk. It details what he will be paid, for what, for
what hardware Commodore is loan/selling him, etc. Ooops. Y'might want to do
some housecleaning on this disk Commondore.

For a good laugh, play the presentation called "joke" in the root directory
of the Welcome disk. It consists of the Joke.asl presentation script for the
ASL presentation program (apparently a script-like version of AmigaVision,
written by the same people), and the files Joke.ilbm and Joke.8svx.

It is a FrameGrabbed image of Saddam Huessein (from Iraqui TV) and a sound
sample of the classic "I've fallen -- and I can't get up!" line from that
blasted commercial. Needless to say, I fell out of my chair laughing when I
found it on the production disk. Much like the old 'secret' messages in the
Amiga WB, and in the C128.

World of Commodore Report from NYC

by Skipper Smith

This show seemed physically smaller than last years, but for content and
quality I was much happier with what I saw this year than last year.
Although this might as well have been a World of Amiga show, there were C64s
and C128s to be seen from Commodore and one dealer showing 512 Kb 2 Mb RAM
disks and a pretty phenomenal piece of SID hardware that was doing a
impressive job of playing music that I had to check twice to make sure it
wasn't coming from an Amiga 500. But lets look at the important stuff:

1) One of my favorite products of all time for the Amiga, Mandala has
reappeared. Very Vivid has resolved all problems with their distributor
(totally taking over distribution for the product) and has resumed their Dead
Head following demonstration tours. For those people who don't know what
Mandala is, it probably qualifies as one of the earliest versatile virtual
reality environments for any computer. Pricing is still $495 US. They are
looking for people to help them do demonstrations, but they don't have
sufficient capital to be able to loan out equipment to people. However,
Commodore is currently helping Vivid and Commodores Educational Group might
be willing to loan equipment to users groups that will demonstrate the
product to universities.

2) CDTV definitely was the most impressive product at the show to me.
Probably taking up 50% of Commodore's booth, CDTV played CD+G disks, normal
audio CDs, games (Xenon 2 sounded extremely impressive), encyclopedias (BTW,
the encyclopedia will not come free with the purchase of CDTV, but will be
available with a coupon [which really is in EVERY box] for $50), atlas',
etc.... A prototype of the A590 (a CDROM with CDTVs capabilities for the
A500) was also shown. There is going to be a version for the A2000, also,
that will be an internal unit. However, due to the need to make it all fit
in a 5 1/4 in slot, it won't be available until mid/late summer. Personally,
I wouldn't buy an internal unit for the A2000, but would instead purchase a
full blown CDTV. The reason for this is because, since CDTV really is an
A500 (shhhhhh, don't say that where computerphobes might hear you :) you can
connect your A2000 and CDTV using PARNET. Also, since CDTV does conform to
the HighSierra ISO 960 format, you can read the Fred Fish CDRom that Xetec
put out. Anybody who is interested in becoming a developer for the Amiga
should definitely look at CDTV; the potential is incredible.

3) The next most impressive product was a graphics card for the Amiga.
Apparently, when people put money into R&D things happen a lot faster than
if one relies on slave labor. What am I talking about? Well, a company
called Digital Micronics (who claims to have developed equipment for the
workstation market, although I have never heard of them) has managed to
produce, in six weeks, both a TMS34010 and a TMS34020 card that conform to
the TIGA standard. The 010 card has an 8 bit/24 bit palate and the 020 card
has a 24 bit/24 bit palate at resolutions up to 1280x1024. I only saw them
running UNIX, but they claim that they (do/will?) support Workbench. These
cards are compatible with, but higher performing than, the commodore ULowell
card so we might start seeing a real standard starting to develop. There was
also talk about making a card that could go into CDTV, but that was just talk
about possibilities.

4) TTR Development has come up with a nice, though diverse, product line.
BattleTech fans should start holding their breath, the commercial version of
the PD program is about ready to ship. They have developed a driver to
support the 1.3 Gb DAT tape backup units. They also have a very nice wargame
simulator called Brigade Commander, a Teachers Toolkit (gradebook,
lessonplanner, etc...), and RXTools which is an object oriented user interface
builder for AREXX.

5) MichTron was showing some very nice flyers, but they all indicated
their Atari beginnings. Not a good way to make friends of influence people at
an Amiga convention an the (or lack thereof) showed that to be true.

6) I don't know where I picked it up, but for anybody with a bridgeboard
there is an interesting newsletter called Crossings. Subscriptions are $40
for 12 issues (68 pages each) and looks to be very worthwhile for helping you
to get your Amiga to work better with the BB. Send you check to: Deland
Editorial Services Ste 115, 1646 2nd Ave. New York, NY 10028

7) GVP is reducing the variety in their product line of accelerators, but
I see it as a positive step. They had flyers for a 22 MHz (I assume that is
a pushed 20 MHz chip) and a 33 MHz 68030 accelerator with same speed math
coprocessor. Now these are soldered, unlike the older boards, so upgrading
your processor on your own won't be an option any more, but to make up for
that hold up to 16 MB AND SCSI controller (not an AT IDE controller YEAH!!!)
ALL ON THE SAME BOARD NO MORE DAUGHTER BOARD!!!! Since the controller is on
the same bus as the expansion memory, DMA into that memory is just about as
fast or faster than the A3000 (depends on which speed of the board you have).
The 50 MHz board still uses the AT IDE controller and a daughterboard for
memory, however, but it now supports up to 32 MB of RAM.

There was a whole lot more to the show, but it wasn't new for the most
part. The other reason to go to the show is for the talks put on by various
speakers. Gail Wellington and Jim Dionne were the only two speakers I was
able to make it to, but I am extremely glad that I did.

Gail Wellington spoke on CDTV, as she is one of the poeple in charge of
its marketing. She was very firm in her statements that Commodore did not
want people referring to CDTV as a computer to prevent alienating
computerphobes. Because of this, icons are called symbols and if everything
is working right you will never see a CLI or Workbench. Commodore will be
doing all they can to avoid letting people realize that they own computers
until later in the future.

Jim Dionne, current president of Commodore USA, spoke on the state of
Commodore in his keynote speech. He asserted that the MSDOS machines as well
as the Commodore 64 will be continued only as long as they are profitable
(although R+D will contine to be funded for the MSDOS machines since they
are quite profitable in Europe) but that the Amiga has reached sufficient
mass to be the main thrust of Commodore from now on. He stated that the
Amiga is very close (within 45 days) of selling three million units total
but that the majority of these sales continue to be in Europe. As a matter
of fact, if an equivalent number per capita of Amigas had been sold in the
US during the 2nd quarter (Christmas time) as were sold in the U.K.,
Commodore would have sold 450,000 units here. Mr. Dionne would like to see
more sales like that in the U.S., but he won't complain as long as units
continue to be sold somewhere in the world. My biggest concern was whether
or not CDTV units sold would count as Amiga units sold. I am still confused
within myself as to how it should be done, but Jim stated that CDTV units
sold WILL count as Amiga's for counting purposes (I would be willing to live
with that as long as they are also broken out on their own). One of the
other things that Jim talked about was the "Educational Representatives" that
Commodore is working with. These are part time employees who are students
at major universities across the country that organize Amiga shows at their
colleges and try to work with existing users groups or start one if none
exists to try to sell computers not just to students but to faculty and staff
as well by increasing campus awareness of the Amiga. So far this program is
having great success and so Commodore is looking to expand it over the next
couple of years.

I was actually happier about what I encountered at WOA than I was about
AmiExpo which was held in New York just three weeks previous. This is most
likely because of Commodores direct support which was the most important
thing to me and the fact I wound up rubbing elbows with developers of CDTV,
the authors of Disney's Animation Studio, and many other major developers for
the Amiga that I didn't see at AmiExpo. Were there any disappointments?
Yes, there were some: The A3000T wasn't shown although it will be made
available in the United States no matter what some rumor mongers might be
trying to threaten, Denny from Computer didn't buy me the drink I had been
promised, and I didn't manage to come home with a CDTV of my own. In all
shows, though, there are always disappointments since nothing is ever perfect
and my disappointments were minor. There was some question as to whether or
not I was going to go to WOA, but I am now VERY happy that I went.

This report came from People Link, posted there by Harv Laser,
AmigaZone Sr. Chair. It originated on FIDONET. Skipper Smith works for
Motorola in the Technical Taining Division.)

On May's diskMAGazine

In addition to the articles in this issue of MAGazine, there
are articles on COMAL, Commodore's new leasing plan, Euro Demos, Fish Disks
471-480, an assumed piracy scheme, video tools software, a new Epson scanner
with picture, CDTV's Hollywood party, a CDTV catalog with a picture of CDTV,
ColorBurst specs, and messages from Dave Haynie on People Link.

In the drawer is a shareware, minimized version of Title Page, Title Page
Jr., by Eschalon Development. Enjoy.

ColorBurst-A Firsthand Look

by Robert Du Gaue

First of all, I can clear up all the confusion and scuttlebutt regarding
the ColorBurst being vaporware and far from shipping. The rep from MAST
(Didn't get his name) brought with him and demoed to the club for over 2
hours a MAST ColorBurst Unit. The unit did not look like it was designed in
someone's garage, but was housed in a standard off-white case about the size
of a couple internal 3 1/2 drives stacked on top of one-another.

The unit performed flawlessly and displayed some awesome pictures in TRUE
24 bit. (Also at this point he mentioned DC-TV not being 24bit internally.
Being that 4 guys from DCTV were at the meeting, I can now also clear up that
matter. One of the programmers for DCTV said all pixels operated on
internally are done so at 24bits).

The paint package that comes with CB, called CBPaint, is similar to the
paint package done for the mimetics framebuffer (Mega Paint???), and the rep
confirmed this because in facts it's the same programmer. He said however
that this paint package has several more options and features then its
predecessor.

He mentioned that all the source code for the support (except CBPaint) is
provided with a CB and in fact 24bit games and other applications are nearing
completion. He told us that CB had been shipping the PAL version for a few
weeks now (didn't get the number) and many developers in Europe have been
shipped one and are in the process of developing software for it. They will
be able to start shipping to US developers in 2 weeks and in 4-6 weeks an FCC
class B will allow consumer shipping to begin.

One thing I did ask about was the file size since they have a special
"uncompressed" format that allows faster displaying. The key word there is
uncompressed. A normal 24bit IFF is compressed, and in order for the CB to
display it they have to uncompress it and pipe it to their box, which took
up a painful amount of time (about 1 1/2 minutes). The 24bit file was about
500k. He then display the same picture in their format which took about 10
seconds, but in order to do this the file size was about 1.3 megs, (screen
height x screen width x 3). With files this big I tend to dispute their
claim of animation "limited only by the speed of the Amiga" in their flyer.
That's true, but it would be real tough to pipe over 30 megs per second to
this box with an Amiga.

All in all this appears to be a great product, with promising features.
He mentioned that a 24bit framegrabber was in the works also (no price). The
price of CB he said went up from there ads because Ram prices on the rise
and their board has 1.5 megs on internal ram on it. The list price now is
$599.

(ColorBurst was recently demonstrated by a representative of MAST at
a meeting of the Sacramento Amiga Computer Club. These are the impressions
of one of the members, see this month's diskMAGazine for

Commodore Discounts on A3000

Starting April 24, 1991 and running thru June 30, 1991 anyone with a
Vic-20, C64, C128, A1000, A500, A2000, A2000HD, or A2500 can get an A3000 at
a very attractive price.

Commodore does NOT want your old computer; take the ORIGINAL owners
manual from your old computer, write the serial number of the computer on
it, and take it (the manual only) to your AUTHORIZED Amiga dealer. You can
then trade in the manual for either of the following versions of the A3000
at the following prices....

A3000/16/50

$1849.00

(A3000, 16mhz, 50 meg hard drive)

A3000/25/50

$2249.00

(A3000, 25mhz, 50 meg hard drive)

A3000/25/100

$3199.00

(A3000, 25mhz, 100 meg hard drive)

All are as normally shipped; that includes 2 meg ram (1 meg chip, one meg
fast), keyboard, mouse, operating system software (AmigaDOS/Workbench, etc)
and AmigaVision. All include the standard one year warranty, and you can opt
for the on site service and/or extended service plans just like normal
buyers. MONITORS, DRIVES, SOFTWARE, AND OTHER ACCESSORIES ARE NOT PART OF
THE DEAL. You purchase these at the dealer's normal prices, if you want
them.

By the way, list prices on the above Amiga 3000's are:

A3000/16/50

$2999.00

A3000/25/50

$3499.00

A3000/25/100

$4699.00

Oh yeah, the A3000UX (A3000 UNIX) is NOT available on this special. The
special trade up prices cannot be used in conjunction with any
other special offer. See your authorized dealer if you have questions.

The Latest in Amiga Videotapes from the MAG Video Library

by Bill Bowers, MAG Librarian

The following is an inventory of the videotape collection of the Memphis
Amiga Group. Just as a reminder, the rental rate for videotapes is $5 per
week with the renter having full responsibility to return the tape to the
librarian.

From Commodore Business Machines are the initial promotional video tapes
for the Amiga 500 and 2000 computer models. Both tapes are well made and
show owners in their business situations, mostly graphics, using the Amiga to
its potential.

From Byte-By-Byte Corporation, a tape called 3D Cookbook to
use with Sculpt-Animate 3D. This tape reveals some advanced techniques for
those who are familiar with sculpt 3D and mentions some of the coming
features for the present version, Sculpt Animate 4D. This tape is worth at
least a look to fast forward to some impressive animation.

From Cape Fear Teleproductions, Inc. is Digitizing For Effect.
A very impressive and informative introduction to digitizing pictures into the
Amiga. Everything from what cameras to use and not use, all kinds of tricks
of the trade, and even an idea for a movable stand to do your own work on.
A required viewing for anyone who wants to learn more about digitizing.

Professional Techniques for Deluxe Paint III is a tremendous
supplement to the tutorials as described in the Deluxe Paint III manual.
Step-by-step you are shown how to do the tutorials without a lot of dead
space. Building blocks are laid and tied together in the last tutorial
showing how to create for yourself the rotating and bouncing Amiga ball
across the screen. Also, included are comments from Dan Silva, the creator
of all versions of Deluxe Paint. A MUST VIEWING for anyone interested in the
graphic capabilities of the Amiga.

Also from Commodore Business Machines, is a promotional tape released
about late 1989 or early 1990 called Creative People on the
Amiga. Again, a well made tape featuring professionals showing and
talking about how they us the Amiga. Most notably, famed blues musician,
B.B. King talks at length about how powerful and easy the Amiga is to
use.

Lastly, a series of tapes from Amiga World Magazine heavily aimed at the
beginners in each subject. Specifically, Getting Started with your
Amiga covers almost everything about hooking up your Amiga, to some
to the most fundamental operations of the computer. A very good tape to start
with, Amiga Graphics Vol. #1 talks mostly about how the graphics
are created and the different resolutions you can use for your art work on the
Amiga. View this tape before, but not after, Pro Techniques for DPIII.

For those wanting to start in video, Desktop Video Vol. #1
offers initial concepts and ideas of expense for this growing industry. As
well made as these tapes are, they are only a starting point as future videos
are promised for more information in particular subjects. The exception to
these beginner tapes is Animation Video Vol. #1. Submitted
entries to Amiga World in a past contest, show a rich diversity of
capabilities and textures in an animation work. You will surely find some
ideas for your animation in this video. Volume 2 will be bought just as soon
as it is released. Also, the club will receive a preview tape for the Video
Toaster as soon as it is released.

This concludes the listing of the videotapes in the club library. The
librarian welcomes any contributions from the club members or anyone who
might be reading this.

New Books & Tapes for the Amiga

IDG Books is now shipping "AmigaWorld Official AmigaVision Handbook" by
Lou Wallace (350 pages, $24.95, ISBN 1-878058-15-0) and it should be
available at better bookstores with good computer book selections now. It's
an impressive piece of work. If you're an AmigaVision owner and want to get
serious with this software, find this book.

"Imagine: the Possibilities, Vol. 1," the only videotape endorsed by
Impulse Inc. is now complete and it should be shipping by the time you read
this. The list price is $34.95 and should answer many of the questions
folks have about the Detail and Forms editors. Volume 2 is due to be
completed in about 45 days and focuses on animation. "Imagine: the
Possibilities," was produced by VRS Media, which produced "The World of Turbo
Silver."

Victor Osaka, president of the Turbo SIG and author of his own tutorial
book on Turbo Silver, is working on his own Imagine tutorial tape and Imagine
user's guide, and a second Turbo Silver user's guide (on animation) and all
of these products will be forthcoming. Release dates and prices are not yet
available.

A MegAChip 2000 Experience

by Chris Lord

Installation was reasonably simple with only minor problems. The supplied
tool for removing the current Agnus Chip was a sawn down version of a chip
puller that had been much too large, like the ones one gets in the so called
"computer tool kits." It had not been sawn down enough to allow the tips to
go down into the spaces on the chip socket so I had to pop out to the
hardware store for a file to finish the job. This accomplished everything
else went fine although removing everything including the power supply from a
Bomac tower case is time consuming. Everything back in and all screwed down
comes the moment of truth! Power on, everything comes up OK (great sigh of
relief!) type AVAIL, lo and behold TWO megs of chip ram! IT WORKS! Five
minutes later the screen flashed and two minutes later it flashed again!
Three minutes later it flashed again! Three minutes later the Video went
crazy, totally unrecognizable. Reboot, Same thing. Oh Oh! Power off then
power on Ok for a couple of minutes then the same loss of video picture.

Next day I called DKB Software the creators of this mini wonder. It seems
there is a problem with motherboards of my particular revision. Most Rev. 4.3
boards have a capacitor missing at location C908, just upper left of the
Agnus socket near the crystal oscillator. There is a silkscreened place for
it but no capacitor. (They had asked Commodore why but not recieced any kind
of answer of course!) The guy at DKB told me I could solder this on myself or
that I could send back the board to them and they would put the thing onto
the board itself. This latter option I gladly accepted, not having soldered
anything since I was about 14 (many years ago!).

It was returned within a week. I went through all the installation again
and turned on the machine. It refused to boot. Another call to DKB who told
me to take everything back out and put it back again carefully making sure
the connections were good. This I did, and in the process discovered that the
solder connection holding a little clip that attatches to the leg of a nearby
chip had broken inside the clip. In discovering this and cursing gently (!) I
managed to break of the other end of the wire! They really were not very
firmly fixed on in the first place!

I decided to be brave and rushed out to a nearby Radio Shack and bought a
SOLDERING KIT. The fix was easy and fast to do, Amy booted right away and I
now have TWO megs of chip ram on my A 2000. THe board works well and
actually gives you an extra meg right on the board. I have heard of no
problems with other revisions of the motherboard so if you are thinking
about it I say go for it but be careful with that wire!